Rupert land still in our sights‚ says defiant BLF

For a moment‚ Black First Land First (BLF) and the Rupert family seemed to smoke the peace pipe on Tuesday.

But less than an hour later the BLF was chanting anti-Johann Rupert slogans and brandishing placards that labelled the business mogul a “land thief”‚ among a myriad other denunciations.

The organisation undertook to refrain from occupying the wealthy family’s land in an agreement that was made an order of court in the High Court in Cape Town.

The family sued the organisation last year to interdict it from occupying various properties in the Western Cape and was granted an interim order. On Tuesday‚ the court was set to hear arguments on whether the interdicts could be made final. The BLF did not oppose the lawsuit and no costs order was made against the organisation.

Judge Yasmin Meer said: “It is my sincere hope that the parties have reached finality.” But Mngxitama said “we have a long dispute with Mr Rupert” and the order did not take away BLF members’ constitutional right to protest. “No one would want to take your constitutional right‚” said Meer. “We wish you well‚ please remember all you do must be within the ambit of the constitution‚ which guides all of us.”

Outside court‚ a group of Mfuleni residents protested about being evicted by the City of Cape Town protested. But they refused to be addressed by the self-styled land expropriation doyen.

“We can’t be addressed by Andile Mngxitama‚” said community leader Gcobani Ntilashe. “He supports Jacob Zuma’s corruption. By allowing him to address us‚ we would be endorsing Jacob Zuma’s deeds.”

Ntilashe removed a scarf from that covered his chest‚ revealing an EFF logo on his T-shirt. Mngxitama is a former EFF MP and relations between him and the party are strained.

Mngxitama was unfazed by the community’s disdain and addressed journalists a few metres from the singing crowd. He vowed to amplify his organisation’s onslaught on Rupert.

“Johann Rupert is a land thief and Johann Rupert has applied to interdict Black First Land First against 10 properties‚” said Mngxitama.

“Johann Rupert has come to court to hide behind the judges to prevent us from taking back our land. This is what is called the lawfare. They are using the law to stop our people from taking the land. Today we explained in court that we will not oppose the 10 properties. We explained in court that we will not go to them because we know they want to use costs to ban our movement.”

He said Rupert owned land across South Africa and the court order did not prevent BLF from occupying properties not listed in the order.

“We are going to occupy those farms because Johann Rupert is a land thief. Johann Rupert is using money he took from our land to bring many lawyers against us to stop us from executing our programme of land expropriation without compensation‚” he said.

The Ruperts’ lawyer‚ Richard Marcus‚ said they had been in negotiations with the BLF for some time‚ which resulted in the court order.

“I am happy to say there were no invasions. They [the Ruperts] have a number of properties throughout the Western Cape‚” said Marcus. “Our client has always been in favour of a peaceful process and due respect for the constitution by all parties. The order taken this morning is reflective of that‚ BLF accepts that position.”